Tintin Movie Premiere in Brussels, Belgium

“The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn” premiered in Brussels, Belgium on Saturday, October 23, 2011 and I WAS THERE!

“The Adventures of Tintin” (Les Aventures de Tintin) is a series of comic books created by the Belgian artist Georges Rémi (1907-1983), who wrote under the pen name of Hergé. The series is one of the most popular European comics and has translations published in over 80 languages and more than 350 million copies of the books have been sold to date. Another fun fact for English-speakers is that the French actually pronounce Tintin as “tun-tun”.

At the premiere, there were classic cars brought in that matched Hergé’s drawings. They were beautifully polished and the really made an effort to find cars that matched exactly. There was also some live entertainment with acrobats doing someone of which I’m not really sure. It might have had something to do with the comics or the movie.

The movie “The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn” was directed by Steven Spielberg and produced by Peter Jackson (who brought you Lord of the Rings), who was the first to arrive to the premiere. Arriving in a Peugeot (french car) rather than a limo, Spielberg got out smiling and waving to the crowd which was squeezed in along the fences to catch a glimpse of the stars. I’d have to say that, Mr. Spielberg was shorter than I expected. I don’t know what it is and us thinking that all of the stars are beautiful untouchable giants, but he looked like a friendly man you’d want to have coffee and chat about movies with.

Mr. Spielberg arrivesFind Waldo....I mean Steven

I was so excited because this was my first ever star-sighting. I brought my camera and recorded his arrival since I was in about the third row of the crowd and couldn’t accurately aim the camera to get some nice shots. So instead I lifted the camera above my head like all those around me. The footage below will show you that somehow I managed to get as good of view as possible from where I was standing. (I pre-appologise for the shaking camera, I was standing on my tiptoes and holding the camera above other people’s heads and their cameras).

Not only did I get Mr. Spielberg on camera, but I was caught on camera too! I moved towards the red carpet after seeing his arrival and there I found a good spot so that I could see through the heads and the bushes. Mr. Spielberg was being interviewed by several journalists and TV crews and I was standing on my tiptoes behind in the crowds. If you looked closely to the left of Mr. Spielberg, you can see my popping up like a groundhog over the sea of heads. (The girl with brown hair and brown eyes – like the photo in the sidebar). See the video featuring Steven Spielberg (and me) at Skynews.com.

I saw the voice actors arrive and the other VIPs. Most of the men were dressed in suits and the women in business wear. There were no floor-length ball gowns or people shouting “who are you wearing” like I imagine at the LA or London premieres, but it might be because this movie was animated? In any case, they were dressed for business and had on warm felt jackets to keep out the slight nip in the air.

It was exciting to attend a red carpet event and I think it goes down as one of the coolest things I’ve experienced in Belgium. I will leave you with the trailer for the movie, which is in theaters on October 26, 2011 in Belgium and December 21, 2011 in America.